Among the big races are the GOP nomination for Senator Tom Harkin’s seat, the Democratic nomination for the 1st congressional district, and the GOP nomination for the 2nd congressional district.

Before the polls have even opened there has been high early voter turnout in Linn County. If that trend continues today with high turnout at the polling places, it could set records. This year 4,300 absentee ballots were requested ahead of election day, that’s more than double the number requested in 2010. So far the democrats are far ahead of republicans in casting those absentee votes. Linn County Auditor Joel Miller says that’s not uncommon, as republicans like to vote in person on election day. Early predictions from the Auditor’s office are for a 40 percent voter turnout and a lot of that could be because of the highly contested races on both the Democrat and republican primary ballots.

Might not be as many crossovers that is one party crossing over to vote in the other because there are contests on every ballot and party regulars want to vote for those people but you may have more independents this election than the past, said Joel Miller, Linn County Auditor.

You must register as either a Democrat or Republican to vote in the primary, you can do so at your polling place. If you are typically registered as an Independent or another party, you can change your registration for the primary then change it back the day after the election if you wish. All 86 polling places in Linn County are open from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday. To find out where you go to vote click here.